


London Spy - Good Miniseries, but No Sequel, Yes Prequel

by chorus



Category: London Spy
Genre: Other, Reviews
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-16
Updated: 2015-12-16
Packaged: 2018-05-07 01:28:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5438441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chorus/pseuds/chorus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While it was a good miniseries, I'm opposed to a sequel.  This review asks a lot of questions and makes some observations, at the end giving reasons for a prequel instead.</p>
            </blockquote>





	London Spy - Good Miniseries, but No Sequel, Yes Prequel

While I liked the way they left the ending open for a sequel, I'm opposed to one because I worry that season two could only devolve into a miasma of torture, devoid of a good plotline and truly not satisfying the viewer.

  
It would only last one episode; the spooks were kind enough this time to let Danny live (and not rot in jail), but they do have their limits.  Besides, too many things in season 1 that work against season 2.

Did the spooks REALLY give Danny HIV?  Was the blood extraction needle tainted, or was the testing situation tainted?  Why didn't he go to an alternate site and get tested again?  The man who gave Danny the HIV med, which way was that warning meant to go?  The spooks like fast & easy (sniper-type kills), why infect Danny and do little more than shorten his lifespan and maybe go through some periods of discomfort? (ah, the benefits of progress in modern medicine!)

The spooks were going to kill Alex no matter what.  His "mother" was brought in, only to give her more and deeper pain.  Remember how eariler on she and her (late?) husband had been spooks, been disgraced, relegated to a crumbling manse in the middle of nowhere under (pretty much) constant watch.  Remember that *everything* Alex agreed to was deemed a lie by the pupil surveillance equipment.  Well, gee, I would say that he was under a little bit of duress, wouldn't you?  No, they were going to kill him regardless, and rub it in his "mother's" face.

The same way they rubbed it in Danny's face: "There will be a note."

Danny was too smart, he figured out too many things.  The dumb act of going to the press hurt him, leaving him with just "yellow journals" to tell his story. But even the yellow journals are monitored not only by spooks, but by legit press looking for that "diamond in the sand."  It was his ability to figure things out that got Alex's "mother" to finally open up a bit, but she, even more than Danny, would have been aware of the consequences awaiting them once they reached the London city limits.

No, better to leave it as is: an excellent story with an ending that, while open-ended, could lead to nothing plausible.  Sometimes ya just gotta walk away.

Having said all that, I would like to see a prequel.  It would alternate between how Alex grew up and was trained to be a spook, how Danny's life was crap until he met his mentor and started pulling himself together.  The ending scene would literally be the scene where Danny smashed his cellphone and Alex helped him pick it up.


End file.
